|
New Arrivals Part I Emma Frost paused by Polaris’ door when she heard an interesting, one-sided conversation. “Who? No ... I haven’t heard anything about her. This is the first I’ve heard anything about you! The last place I saw Wanda Maximoff was at your memorial service. Is the only reason you’re letting me know you’re alive to ask me about her?” Emma peaked into Lorna’s perspective to double-check who she was talking to. Very surprising. “Half-sister, if we’re related at all. Look, Dad, I don’t know if I can believe that you’re really you. I’d rather not talk right now. Or maybe ever. I’ve got to go.” How truly interesting. Magneto was communicating to one estranged daughter about the other. Now why would he be so interested in Wanda as to blow his cover? Emma turned around and headed toward her office. Perhaps it was time she said hello to Xavier. - - - For Wanda and Mortimer both, uncertainty began to settle into routine. With their makeshift vows of loyalty, they found a small sense of security. Mort fixed the window in Wanda’s room, and they both slept there. Like any other couple in the complex. After just over a week, Mort hardly recalled his former, adventurous life. The most life-threatening thing he did now was driving in the rain. But since they’d been sharing a room, he’d discovered other things about her that he’d never known. Such as the fact that she had nightmares every night. At first he didn’t know what he should do. Wake her? Try to turn her to her other side? Let her be? Usually, she woke up gasping or crying, and Mort would take her hands or her arms and tell her that things were okay. Sometimes she’d talk in her sleep as well. Usually single words or things that didn’t make sense. But she always sounded frightened or angry. Now Mort had a greater understanding of why she didn’t want to be alone. Whatever images where haunting her came to her when her mind was closed off from anyone else. It wasn’t the fantasy life Mort had envisioned years ago. They lived in a run-down apartment in a bad part of town. They weren’t married. They were both nuts. But two nuts together are better than two nuts alone, right? One evening, Toad looked through the front window and saw Wanda standing out front in the porch light, staring off. When he went out and stood beside her, he saw that she was looking at their neighbors’ daughter. The girl was picking up her toys to bring inside, while the mother watched. “Do you think she’ll have bad memories about growing up here?” Wanda asked softly. Toad glanced at the girl. “Her? I don’t know. She doesn’t seem too bad off.” “No, she doesn’t. She seems happy.” She turned her gaze from the girl to him. “Were you ever happy as a child?” “Me? Can’t say that I was.” That seemed pessimistic, and Wanda didn’t seem happy to hear it, so he reconsidered her question. “Well, there was this one time,” he said after a moment, “I was just barely old enough to get away with sleeping on the streets, and I was walking along in some alley. You know, it was really cold and everything, so I was looking for a garbage can or something that had enough room for me to get in and stay warm. I had just come to a nice-sized dumpster when one of the back doors opened. I hid and watched the storekeeper just toss a box into the trash and then go back inside. So I climbed in, and there’s all this candy inside. It must have been a candy shop. It was a little moldy, and I had to fight off a few ants, but there it was, all for me. I was happy then.” He watched Wanda’s distressed expression succumb to doubt, and finally skepticism. “You’re kidding me,” she challenged. Sheepishly, he smirked. Then he saw Wanda show the most genuine smile he’d seen since he’d met her there. “I believed you for a moment. There must have been one good thing. Don’t you have any pleasant memories at all?” He smiled. “I do, actually,” he said, overcoming the urge to swat a buzzing mosquito with his tongue. “There was this girl. And I really liked her, so one day I asked her if she liked me too. And she said no. But she was still nice to me.” Wanda looked confused. “Really? That’s it?” “Yes.” He waved the mosquito out of his face and added, “And then, later, I met her again. And she was even nicer to me.” It took her a moment before she realized. “You’re talking about me,” she smiled. Thankfully, she was amused. “Yeah. I am. What about you? You have any?” Once he’d asked, he wondered if it was a mistake. But Wanda didn’t seem especially upset. “I have several. There were many times when I had a family, and food, and a place to live. It’s just that they’re spread between so many horrible things, I tend to forget them. But there were times when Pietro and I were very happy.” Pietro, Mort thought. She had always been close to her brother. Where was he all this time? Mort wondered why he hadn’t considered the question before. Pietro would kill him if he knew Mort was living with his sister. “I’m going in,” Wanda said, disrupting his thoughts. “Oh, right. Me too.” Mort opened the door for her and as he followed, he glanced at the girl. Arms full of stuffed animals, she carefully carried her load up to her mother at her own front door. The little girl had everything. - - - [Genosha] Charles Xavier looked up as Magneto entered the room. “I spoke to Lorna today, Charles.” Magneto watched a mildly annoyed look pass over his friend’s face. “I trust she was pleasantly surprised to hear from you.” “Are my children ever pleased to hear from me? I contacted her to ask if she’d heard from Wanda. She hasn’t.” “Are you asking me to locate her for you, Eric?” “It goes against her wishes, yes, but do you really trust that magician with her? He can’t handle her alone any better than you can.” “What is it you hope to gain by finding out where she is? It was you who made the decision to let her leave.” “I want some peace of mind. Tell me you haven’t wanted to know, haven’t wanted to check up on her.” “Indeed, the temptation proved too great.” “You know -” “She’s living in Pennsylvania now. Or at least she was a few weeks ago. You didn’t ask, so I didn’t offer.” “Is she still there?” Xavier concentrated. “Yes, she is -” he looked up. “What? Is she well?” “Yes, she is. She’s alive and her mind is alert.” “What aren’t you telling me, Charles? What do you know?” “We’ve invaded her privacy enough.” Xavier looked away. “Remember that you aren’t my only source for information,” Magneto said, leaving the room. - - - [Wanda’s Apartment] ‘Who’s hammering at this hour?’ Wanda strained to see the clock by her bedside. Before her eyes could fully focus, three things became instantly clear. The sound was not someone hammering, but someone knocking. It would be Dr. Strange coming to check up on her. She was in bed with a man Dr. Strange would certainly not want her in bed with. Freeing herself from Mort’s arms, Wanda pushed the covers aside and quickly began changing into yesterday’s clothes. Awakened, Mort heard the door too. “Let it be,” he said. “I can’t! It’s Stephen. I forgot he was coming today.” “Oh.” Toad realized the situation. “What should I -” “Just stay here. He never comes in my room.” Without waiting for a response from him, Wanda dashed out, pulling the door closed behind her. Alone in Wanda’s room, Toad suddenly began to feel like the shameful secret locked away in a closet. - - - “Stephen, I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.” Wanda opened the door and invited him in. “I was actually still asleep. Shameful, isn’t it?” “Not at all. In that case, you must forgive my intrusion.” Wanda offered him the couch while she took the chair. Seating himself, Dr. Strange noticed the folded blanket was missing. “I’m sorry to have awakened you, Wanda. Do you need a moment?” “No, I’m fine.” “Have you been sleeping well?” “What? Oh, I have been. Thank you.” “You’ve been keeping active, I see. You’re still working?” “Yes, though I’m only part-time.” Dr. Strange looked around. “Where’s the Toad?” Wanda inwardly started. Could he really suspect? “He must be out. I just woke up, as I said.” “I see. Does he usually walk in such cold weather?” “What? What do you mean, ‘walk?’” “I noticed the motorcycle on the way in. That is his, I assume.” Dropping any pretenses, Wanda’s tone fell from a mock cheerful one to a grave one. “What are you asking?” “Only a simple question.” “You never ask simple questions, Stephen. What is it you’re trying to find out?” “Wanda, I’m concerned about the relationship you have with the Toad.” He did know. He’d known even before she had. “And just what concerns you about it? You seem to know the answers to what you’re asking, so why pull me through the charade?” “Wanda, please think about what you’re doing. Think about how far you’ve come.” “You’re the one who never seems to think about how far I’ve come. Why do I feel like you’re holding me back the most?” “Holding you back? From what, exactly?” He was trying to set her up for something, but she didn’t know what. What was he holding her back from? “From being ... normal. You seem to think that I’ll always be some fragile doll with a bomb inside it, waiting to be tipped in the wrong direction. I don’t think I could ever come far enough to appease you. Everything I do is another step in the wrong direction. But I feel better. I feel stronger. For the first time in god knows how long, I feel like I might be able to -” she stopped, afraid of how he might take her next words. “To live a remotely normal life,” she amended. “Wanda,” Dr. Strange was speaking softly. “How many times in the past have you felt the same way?” “You wouldn’t know, would you? Where were you? I can manage on my own, Stephen. I always have. I don’t need you.” “But you need someone, Wanda. You have to have someone to trust -” “I don’t trust you,” Wanda glared at him. “I’ve trusted you before.” “You’re not -” “I want you to leave.” “Wanda, Magneto did not agree to your release without conditions.” “Go ahead and call the two of them. Try to take me back there.” Wanda leaned forward in her chair, seething. “But for right now; leave.” Peaceably, Dr. Strange stood. “I will, Wanda. And I’m very sorry.” “For what you have done, or for what you will?” “You cannot expect to get far.” “I don’t expect to run.” Wanda stood, walked to the door, and opened it. “I’m not proposing any kind of altercation. I want to be left in peace.” Dr. Strange moved through the doorway. “Peace is never so easy, Wanda.” The door was closed. - - - Dr. Strange nodded to Xavier’s image on the screen in front of him. “Hello, Charles. No. It’s not good news. I believe we have a very eminent problem. Charles, you know this needs to be taken care of. Things cannot go on the way they have been. It has to end. I am sorry too.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Footnotes for the Next Chapter: |
